CANOE/KAYAK: Australia has scored three medals at the ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Duisburg, at the second World Cup this year.
Ken Wallace claimed two gold medals in non-Olympic events, while Wallace and Lachlan Tame claimed silver in the K2 1000m, an Olympic event.
Day 2 wrap
Ken Wallace has won two gold medals on the final day of racing at the ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Duisburg, Germany..
The Currumbin Creek kayaker dominated the K1 5000 final winning in 19:14.0.43. He finished more than six seconds ahead of German Max Hoff and Aleh Yurenia of Belarus.
Fellow Queenslander Bill Bain finished sixth.
Earlier, in the same event he won gold in at the Beijing Olympics, the K1 500, Wallace powered home in the closing 250 to win in 1:40.152, 0.317 seconds ahead of Pawel Szandrach of Poland.
Fellow Australian Jordan Wood went out hard but faded in the closing stages to finish seventh amongst a world class field.
The victory for Wallace has continued his rich vein of form, making it four medals for the series so far, with a third and final World Cup to be held in Copenhagen from 29 to 31 May.
Following his silver medal performance in the K2 1000 alongside Lachlan Tame yesterday, Wallace was feeling much fresher for today’s race.
“I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday afternoon that is for sure,” Wallace said.
“We have been doing a lot of K2 work the last few weeks and not really a lot of hard strokes in the singles so the heat was a struggle, the semi was pretty good yesterday arvo and today in the final it is a whole new day and I was back on it.”
Sunday results wrap
In other results, the men’s and women’s K4 crews produced some encouraging signs in the A finals.
After winning gold in Portugal last weekend, the men’s K4 1000 boat saw Riley Fitzsimmons replace Jordan Wood, joining Olympic trio David Smith, Jacob Clear and Murray Stewart.
Less than two seconds separated the top six boats, with Australia missing out on a medal by 0.236 seconds in fifth position.
The women were equally unlucky with the crew of Jo Brigden-Jones, Alana Nicholls, Naomi Flood and Bernadette Wallace finishing fourth for the second consecutive World Cup.
A second Australian boat featuring Alyce Burnett, Cat McArthur, Jaime Roberts and Alyssa Bull also featured in the A final, finishing seventh.
Head Coach David Foureur was encouraged by the girl’s performances, especially by having two boats in each of the K4 500 and K2 500 A finals.
“I can never remember Australia doing that at World Cups before so that shows the strength of our womens group and there is a bit of depth there”, Foureur said.
He is also encouraged by their potential for improvement ahead of the World Championships in August.
“I think for the K4, although they are experienced athletes they have not spent a lot of time together in the K4 so it is really just getting down to the nuts and bolts and just doing the hard work and learning how to paddle the boat,” Foureur said.
“I think we can make some really big gains there.”
Flood, Wallace, Brigden-Jones and Nicholls also featured in the K4 200 final, finishing sixth.
While in the men’s version Wood, Fitzsimmons, Jesse Phillips and Callum Dunn finished ninth.
Earlier, Western Australian Stephen Bird recorded a time of 36.001 to finish sixth in the K1 200 C final.
In the final race of World Cup 2, Bernadette Wallace finished sixth in the women’s K1 5000 final.
The third and final ICF canoe sprint World Cup will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 29 to 31 May.
Day 1 wrap
Kenny Wallace and Lachlan Tame have backed up their gold medal performance last weekend by winning silver in the K2 1000 final at the second ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Duisburg, Germany.
The pair finished 0.945 seconds behind Germany who won the gold medal in 3:19.391.
“We are definitely satisfied,” Wallace said.
“That was our first race this year into a head wind and it is quite a solid head wind the whole way so every race is a new learning experience and we are stoked to get through it.”
The conditions were the complete opposite to the previous World Cup in Portugal last weekend, where they triumphed in one of the fastest times ever recorded.
“During the past races we constantly get under that 3:12 mark at the moment which is pretty fun because in training we are hurting to do that, but we are just happy that every race that we have had so far is getting better and better,” Wallace said.
The Australian pairing is forging a reputation as the perfect pair, with Tame’s explosive starts being matched by Wallace’s powerful finishes.
“I have got a bit of faith (in him). He is so good for 5k, 500 and 1000 metres so I probably give him a good start and hang in there and trust him and give him the power at the right times, do what the coaches say and it pays off,” Tame said of paddling alongside Wallace.
“If I make him comfy that is the main thing.”
Wallace has also enjoyed competing alongside Tame.
“It is good, it brings a lot of enjoyment to the sport and now as I am getting older I just really want to enjoy it and have a good time,” Wallace said.
“He pushes it through that second 250 which is great, he says that he is learning from me but I am learning how to have a lot of fun again.”
The result makes it back to back medals, with a third and final World Cup to come in Copenhagen, Denmark from 29 to 31 May.
The focus for the pair is still on building for the ICF World Championships in August, where Olympic quotas will be up for grabs.
“We have got 13 weeks now. We just need to get through these few weekends, mingle with the best in the world and then knuckle down and train hard,” Tame said.
In an encouraging sign for Australia, Riley Fitzsimmons (18) and Jordan Wood (20) took out the B final in 3:19.980.
A time which would have placed them second in the A final.
In other results Murray Stewart backed up his silver medal performance last weekend by finishing fifth in the K1 1000 A final.
Bill Bain finished fifth in the B final.
Western Australian pair Brodie Holmes and Stephen Bird finished ninth in the K2 200 B final.
In the women’s events Alana Nicholls finished sixth in the K1 500 A final.
In the K2 500 A final Australia had two crews with Jo Brigden-Jones and Naomi Flood finishing sixth and Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull combining for eighth.
AUSTRALIAN CANOEING
